Our Data, Our Selves

Some thoughts on online privacy -- through
the lens of a techie, a lawyer and a marketer

By

John Buskin

Updated April 17, 2000 12:01 a.m. ET

To most Web users, the biggest privacy concern is that some site will grab their innermost secrets -- from credit-card numbers to medical records to video rentals -- and exploit them.

The possibility that, say, the government might be snatching our e-mails and scanning them for references to TOW missiles, explosive humus or vials of salmonella seems to bother us less than the idea that Mondo Corp. is covertly gathering up our names...